Posted Sun Jan 9, 2005, 11:25am Subject: Re: Turkish Coffee Drinkers
rokerij
I do drink Turkish coffee but only when I'm on holiday in Turkey or Greece so I can't help with bean selection.Sorry Word to the wise……When in Turkey ask for a Turkish coffee…….When in Greece ask for a Greek coffee. It's the same brew but get it wrong and you're liable to start a political incident :)
bluesforpablo Senior Member Joined: 25 Jan 2004 Posts: 86 Location: North Carolina Expertise: Professional
Drip: French Press Roaster: Counter Culture Coffee
Posted Sun Jan 9, 2005, 11:31am Subject: Re: Turkish Coffee Drinkers
I was talking to a Greek resturant owner about his Greek coffee. He buys his coffee preground and imported. To me it tasted grassy. I suggested we try some fresh beans and grind to order and see the difference. I'll let you know what results after we experiment.
Posted Sun Jan 9, 2005, 12:07pm Subject: Re: Turkish Coffee Drinkers
I drink Turkish coffee that I make at home in an ibrik. I used to purchase my coffee beans from a local international wholesale store, and those were just plain-old, dark-roast Colombian. You just need to be able to grind them Turkish-grind (ultra-fine). Some people like to put cardamom in with the coffee. Most Greek or Lebanese restaurants I've been to that serve coffee do that. IMO, a bit of an acquired taste, that is. :)
of course, I should of recognized that in the first place. I think that's one of the ingredients that gives it spice. Would it hurt to grind some up with the coffee?
Isaac Senior Member Joined: 7 Aug 2004 Posts: 54 Location: NYC, NY Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Expobar Pulser Grinder: Mazzer Mini Drip: Aeropress Roaster: Popper (No Mods)
Posted Sun Jan 9, 2005, 5:00pm Subject: Re: Turkish Coffee Drinkers
My wife is Turkish, but hadn't actually made Turkish coffee until a few months ago. =) When she made it, we just ground up some of our usual coffee (think it was Blue Bottle) very fine on the Mazzer, and mixed it with some cardamom in an ibrik (seems like you could get away with just using a really small sauce pan if you don't have an ibrik). It tasted great!
I had tried to make it a few years ago, and it turned out awful. I think I used too much coffee for the amount of water I had, didn't have the right grind (no good grinder then!), and I didn't add any cardamom.
GeorgeP Senior Member Joined: 5 Mar 2004 Posts: 56 Location: Athens, Greece Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Pavoni lever Grinder: Mazzer Mini E, Pavoni Jolly Vac Pot: Cona Roaster: HWP, Alp, Gene Cafe
Posted Sun Jan 9, 2005, 10:58pm Subject: Re: Turkish Coffee Drinkers
Word to the wise……When in Turkey ask for a Turkish coffee…….When in Greece ask for a Greek coffee. It's the same brew but get it wrong and you're liable to start a political incident :)
I grew up in Greece when everybody called their coffee "Turkish". Under the colonels' junta in the late 60's / early 70's, there was a big goverment sponsored campaign to call the coffee "Greek". Pseudo-patriotism prevailed. Some old people still call it turkish though.
I have tried on a few occasions to roast some coffee for "turkish" at home, but failed to get anything decent. I guess one needs coffees with very little acidity because the roast is very light, I doubt if it gets even midway into first crack. Mild brazils and colombian may do the trick.
There are many variations, both in naming, in roasting, and in spicing.
For instance, I grew up calling it Arabic Coffee (I'm half-arab after all) and we made it several different ways.
My father prefer's it in a Saudi style where the coffee is VERY lightly roasted (I posted about this LONG ago and it's in the Home Roast forum archives). I thought it was interesting, but really don't like it at all. Gives me a massive headache and this is really under-roasted for my taste, very grassy.
When making the more normal style of Arabic/Turkish/Greek (yada yada) coffee, I always use Yemen or occasionally Ethiopian beans. These were the only varieties available for a LONG time and could properly be considered authentic.
I've varied the roast from anytime after 1st crack to just into 2nd crack to active 2nd, to French and I've varied the spicing with cardomom, ginger, and occasionally cinnamon or combinations of the above. You can also brew with or without sugar depending the preferences of your guest. In all forms of preparation, the correct foaming is very important and each demitasse it supposed to contain a little foam or you are being rude to your guests (this is considered the best part).
One doesn't drink the grounds in the bottom and some traditions have people telling fortunes by inverting the grounds onto their saucer. This sort of behavior (fortune telling) is considered haram (forbidden) by Islam, but that never stopped anyone from having a good time, neh?
I find I prefer a mild, just into 2nd crack roast, with cardomom and sugar added to the pot when brewing. I don't recommend grinding the cardomom since it can jam up your grinder. If you're not using a burr grinder, I guess it's fine.
All kinds of variations are typical to different parts of the region. All are the authentic and traditional and _CORRECT_ way to do it, according to people from their respective regions. I agree with them all and enjoy most variations. :-)
I've also done a very American thing.. make it with milk instead of water and called it a Turkish Latte. A little work to master foaming milk (not using an espresso machine here) instead of water, but quite nice.
The one thing I haven't done yet, but intend to when my coffee tree finally blooms, it to try coffee leaf tea, and perhaps coffee berry tea (I've tasted the coffee berries before and they're quite sweet!). It's due to produce berries this year or next and it's been growing gangbusters for just over 2 years now, so I think it's going to finally bloom!
Good to see some Caffe Tur'ki drinkers here! blkeagl covered it well, but i'll add my two cents...
I immigrated to Israel and served in the IDF, and I can definitively say that my love for coffee sprang from Turkish coffee. I never drank coffee until I joined the army. The long hours coupled with intensive exercise and exertion and average of 4 interrupted hours of sleep, followed by regular stints in the guard post, showed me the value of the thick brew the guys would bring around to the guards in a sticky drab green Thermos. It was probably 1/3 sugar, 1/3 coffee, and 1/3 water.
Eventually we discovered the joys of keeping a 'coffee kit' with us at all times, which consisted of an empty M16 ammo case with a minuture propane camping stove, ibrik (or 'finjan' as the Israeli Arabs call it), coffee, sugar, spoon, and lots of shot glasses. Guys would stand around the stove and argue endlessly over which method of brewing was best: "boil it", "No, bring it just before boiling 3 times", "My uncle adds the sugar after the second of 4 boilings", "No, fool, you never boil it with the sugar inside", "Bah, where's the 'hel' (cardamom)", "hey moron, just cause you Yemenites like 'hel' doesn't mean we all do"....
There was much argument over who's Tur'ki was the best. If your's was decided upon, forget it, you would be making coffee for the rest of your army service!
Once the coffee was made, everyone would get a shotfull or two, and stand around the stove and BS about whatever was news that day, or just soak in the friendship and nature around.
And that was what hooked me: as an American, I knew of nothing like that experience of taking a minute to enjoy others company, of stopping everything, no matter what, just to stand by a fire and warm your hands, body, and soul with such simple things like coffee and friends. It taps into an almost primeval or pre-historic urge to be with friends by the fire.
After the army, I soon realized there were better coffees out there. But I've never had more memorable cups than those cut-rate Brazilian light-roasted beans that were boiled to death over a stove.
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